Tuesday, August 22, 2017

What will the priest of tomorrow be like? France shows a clearindication.

(Paris) The trend of the figures about French seminarians shows some notable trends. Riposte Catholique compares the figures of the seminarians of May 2017 with those of May 2010. What changes can be seen during these seven years, the duration which consists of an entire period of priestly formation?

At the end of the 2009/2010 academic year (shortly before priestly ordinations) there were 918 seminarians in France. At the end of the 2016/2017 academic year, the figure was 853. This represents a drop of seven percent.

The numbers include the diocesan seminaries and all seminarians, whether French or foreigners, who study for a French diocese. Also included are the secular priestly communities of tradition (including the Society of St. Pius Xth ) and the Communauté St. Martin, which is playing an increasing role in France. The picture is therefore not entirely complete, since the Catholic orders are missing. The statistics, however, deliberately includes the world clergy.

Growth of communities of tradition and community of St. Martin

Seminarists in France: comparison between the academic years 2009/2010 and 2016/2017

The 94 French dioceses experienced a drop in French seminarians of almost a fifth (-18.2 percent). In the case of foreign seminarians preparing for a priesthood for a French diocese, the decline was even more pronounced and almost one quarter (23.1 per cent).

On the other hand, the priestly societies of tradition show an annual increase. The number of their seminarians rose from 140 in the academic year 2009/2010 to 160 in the academic year 2016/2017. This represents an increase of 14.3 percent.

During the same period, the Priestly Society of St. Martin (Communauté St. Martin), which was founded in 1976 by Jean-François Guérin, priest of the Archbishopric of Tours, was canonically erected with the help of the Archbishop of Genoa, Giuseppe Cardinal Siri. Guérin died in 2005, who was the Superior General until 2004, and was a member of the old-rite Benedictine Abbey of Fontgombault. The mother house and the community priest's seminary are now in the former Benedictine Abbey of Evron.

The Priestly Society of St. Martin, who had 43 seminarians in France in 2010, had 98 in the past year. It was able to more than double its numbers. The increase is 128 percent.

The figures do not include the members of the Propaedeutic (Preseminary).

Clear shifts in the overall picture

The changes also mean shifts in the overall picture. In 2010, French diocesan seminarians accounted for two-thirds (66%) of all seminarians preparing for the priesthood in France. With the foreign seminarians who studied for French dioceses, their share amounted to 80 per cent. The seminarians of the priestly communities of tradition accounted for 15.3 per cent of the total number. The Communauté St. Martin had a share of 4.7 percent.

In 2017, the picture is clearly different: the French diocesan seminarists now account for only 58 percent of all seminarians who are covered. Together with the foreign seminarians for French dioceses, their share is 69.7 percent. The proportion of the priestly communities of tradition has increased to 18.8 per cent, and that of the Communauté St. Martin even to 11.5 per cent.

The proportion of diocesan seminarians are also distributed quite differently in the diocese. Eleven of the 94 dioceses had only one seminarian in the past year, five had no one. 13 dioceses had only two seminarians, 17 more only three, and another 18 dioceses between four and five seminarians. In other words, two-thirds of the French bishops do not even have a new priest every year.

Half of the diocesan seminarians are from 13 of 94 diocese - except Frejus-Toulon

More than half of all diocesan seminarians are from 13 of the 94 dioceses. Two diocese stand out: the Archdiocese of Paris and the Diocese of Frejus-Toulon. The largest number, with 70 seminarians, is the Archdiocese of Paris. At the lower end of the list, the seminarians of 42 diocese are to be counted in order to reach the number of seminarians in Paris. The archdiocese includes 3.3 per cent of the inhabitants of France, but accounts for 11.8 per cent of diocesan seminarians and 8.2 per cent of all seminarians.

The Diocese of Frejus-Toulon in Provence is a real exception. It has been headed since 2000 by the Bishop Dominique Rey. Although the Diocese is only 1.6 per cent of the population of France, the small diocese, with 42 seminarians, represents seven per cent of all diocesan seminarians and almost five per cent of all seminarians. On the whole, the seminary of Frejus-Toulon attracts most priestly vocations in proportion. At the seminary, 66 seminary participants were trained in the last academic year. In the past, Bishop Rey has promoted the establishment or founding of new orders and communities, including those with a missionary and traditional charism. The education at the diocesan seminary of Frejus-Toulon is also appreciated by priests of tradition.

27 dioceses had more seminarians in 2017 than in 2010. Not all of them signify a trend reversal, but some already. Worth mentioning was the increase, especially in the diocese of Lyon, Bayonne, Rennes, Montpellier, Meaux, Saint-Brieuc and Digne. The diocese of Bayonne is also headed by Monsignor Marc Aillet, a traditional bishop, who belongs to the Priestly Society of St. Martin.

Overall, a general shift can be observed. It leads away from the post-conciliar spirit and in a graded way towards the tradition.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

(Rome) In Jerusalem, a multi-day congress was held at the Hebrew University of the Pontifical Schola Occurrentes Foundation. Pope Francis transmitted a video message to yesterday's meeting. The Pope turned to the international audience in Spanish. As in the past, the Embassy lacked any relation to religion. The words "God", "Jesus", "Christ" or "Lord" did not pass the lips of the Pope. He called for a global world of unity in diversity and a "culture of encounter".

Scholas Occurrentes is a project in cooperation with state and private schools founded by Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he was still Archbishop of Buenos Aires. After his election to the Pope he gave the project the legal form of a papal foundation and settled it in the Vatican. In the meantime, more than 400,000 schools in over 80 countries are involved worldwide, according to the Foundation.

The project wants to educate "peace", "dialogue" and "encounter".

Scholas Occurrentes is regarded as a favorite project by Pope Francis, which has been criticized several times in the past. It was known that the pope's name was used for gambling, and that the foundation, on papal instructions, refused a substantial donation by the incumbent Argentine president, apparently because he belonged to the "false party", and finally that the foundation supports gender ideology with its publications in Spanish speaking areas. All in all, doubts about the "pedagogical revolution" that Francis was pursuing with the Foundation were voiced.

"Civil Society" instead of Christianity?

The project is therefore very popular with ministries of education, school authorities and administrators because the religious aspect is completely thrown out. Neither God nor Christianity play a role. They are not even mentioned. The project focuses on "civil society" education on "peace, peaceful coexistence , dialogue and encounter."

In his numerous speeches and messages, which Pope Francis addressed to Schola's Occurentes in the past four years, Christ and the Christian faith never appeared. In his videotape, Francis spoke of "variety" and "diversity" that "breathe all the same air" and "inhabit the same earth", which is "the common house." Everyone has "their history", but "all live together". This is also the model given by Jerusalem. It is about "openness", as the Church chief emphasized several times, and is therefore "without prejudice."

According to the Pope, the goal of Scholas Occurrentes is to create a "culture of encounter". The Pope said "no to unity," but yes to "commonality in cultural diversity".

(Rome) Next Sunday, Pope Francis will visit the small diocese of Carpi in the Po Valley. A courageous priest of this diocese is currently pestering the Pope. He raises the question with a memorandum of whether the new Jesuit Father General, Arturo Sosa Absacal, spreads heresies.

Memorandum against the "Black Pope"

The priest is Don Roberto Bertacchini and is a pupil of three priests of stature, the German Jesuit, Father Heinrich Pfeiffer, art historian at the Gregoriana in Rome, and the two Italian Jesuits, Father Francesco Tata, former religious prosecutor of Italy, and Father Piersandro Vanzan, Augustine connoisseur and leading author of the Roman Jesuit paper, Civiltà Cattolica . The reference to his Jesuit teachers is not without significance in the matter. Bertacchini was ordained priest in 2009 by the then Archbishop Carlo Ghidelli of Lanciano-Ortona.

Last week, as the Vaticanist Sandro Magister reports, Don Bertacchini sent both Pope Francis and Cardinal Gerhard Müller a memorandum. On six pages, the priest critically comments on a recent interview of the new General Superior of the Jesuit Order, who has been in office since October 2016. The Venezuelan Arturo Sosa Abasca stands very close to Pope Francis, himself Jesuit.

Does the Jesuit General Want a "Christianity without Christ"?

The Jesuit general had represented theses in the interview, which are "so serious that they can not be passed over without silence, without making one's self complicit." Bertacchini accuses the "Black Pope", as the Jesuit general is traditionally called, of speaking of "a Christianity without Christ".

Magister published Bertacchini's memorandum . Giuseppe Rusconi, the Swiss Vaticanista, published the interview where he criticized him last February 18. Arturo Sosa had reviewed the text and released it for publication.

Bertacchini's criticism is centered on the massive doubts expressed by the Jesuit General about the credibility of the Holy Scriptures. Arturo Sosa made fun of it. Rusconi addressed himself to criticism of the controversial papal Amorislaetitia . The words of Jesus were opposed to the admission of remarried divorced persons to the Sacraments. Sosa replied sloppily that nobody could know exactly what Jesus had said "really," because no one had "a tape recorder" with him.

According to Bertacchini, the Jesuit General says that the words of Jesus on the indissolubility of marriage are not a theological fixed point, but only the point of departure for the doctrine, which must then be developed "comfortably." In this way, however, the exact opposite could be represented, in other words the compatibility of divorce and Christian life."

Jesuit genius "too smart" to openly represent a heresy

Bertacchini emphasizes that Arturo Sosa Absacal SJ, "is too smart to fall into an obvious heresy, which in some respects is even worse. It is, therefore, necessary to follow the thread of his reasoning."

In an interview, the Jesuit General asked whether the evangelists were credible or not. His answer: One must distinguish. He thus implied, by way of a roundabout way, that it is not said, about the credibility of the Gospels. He thus questions the truthfulness of Jesus' whole doctrine of faith. The Jesuit had been careful to go into details. He remained general, but nevertheless offered a statement destructive in its core. If we consider that, in all his statements on marriage and the newly remarried divorced, Pope Francis never cited the words of the Lord on the indissolubility of marriage, the thrust of the Jesuit General would be clear. Bertacchini added:

"If the Pope does not quote these passages, it means that he has made a distinction and does not consider it authentic. They are therefore not binding. But all the popes have taught the contrary! So what? They will be wrong. Or they have said true things and taught for their time, but not for ours. "

The Jesuit General does not say it apertis verbis, but interprets it and lets it show through.

"This gives the Pope's a reading to the family pastoral, which deviates from the traditional doctrine."

Jesuit General: "We know today that Jesus never taught that marriage is indissoluble"

Sosa asserts nothing less than that

"We know today," that Jesus probably, probably almost certainly, never taught that marriage is indissoluble. The evangelists would have misunderstood this."

"On the other hand, the Sensus fidei tells us that the evangelists are credible. Our Jesuit General, however, rejects this credibility and even ignores the fact that St. Paul received this doctrine from the teaching as directly following Jesus, and passed it on to his congregations." (1 Cor 7: 10-11).

According to Bertacchini, the consensus of the Synoptics is "too clear" in the rejection of adultery. Moreover, St. Paul reaffirms this doctrine in the Epistle to the Ephesians and even strengthens it. He reaffirmed it by quoting the passage from the book of Genesis, which Jesus also quoted, and strengthened it because Christ loved the Church in an indissoluble way, so much so that he gave his life for it and beyond his earthly life. This faithfulness of the Lord is what Paul calls the model of marital fidelity.

There is, therefore, evidently a continuity between the pre-Easter and the post-Easter teachings. Equally obvious is the break with Judaism, which retained the possibility of the repudiation. Bertacching asks the following questions: "If Paul himself refers to Jesus for this break, what is the meaning of the Gospels? Where should this leap come from which determined the practice of the early Church, if not of Christ?"

It should be remembered that divorce was also permitted in the Greco-Roman sphere, and that a form of the concubinage existed, which could easily lead to a later marriage, like the life of St Augustine shows. The rejection of a abandonment, divorce, concubinage constitutes a cultural breach, a phenomenon which is decisive in the history of culture, what should it point back to, if not to Jesus? And if Jesus is the Christ, why should the faithfulness of the Gospels be doubted?

"Apart from this, if Jesus is not to have said these words, from whence comes the drastic commentary of the disciples in Matthew 19:10 (" then it is not good to marry at all?") Among these disciples was also the evangelist himself who does not strike a good figure. They understood late what Jesus taught them because they were then still dependent on the traditions of their time that Jesus criticizes. "From a historical point of view, the pericope Mt 19, 3-12 is credible in every respect," the priest said.

Bertacchini then goes into detail on the "dogmatic horizon" of the statements of the Jesuit General. In it, he expanded his criticism and extends it to a recent article in the Roman Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica, with the Jesuit Giancarlo Pani, where the prohibition of female priesthood is questioned. Bertacchini criticizes the fact that the solemn gospel, which calls for infallibility, is questioned without hesitation. The priest criticizes this work of subversion with the aim of destroying safe dams.

What will Pope Francis do with the inscription of Don Roberto Bertacchini? What will CDF Prefect Müller do with it?

Friday, March 10, 2017

March 9, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – In an explosive homily delivered Sunday, the leader of the Society of Pius X (SSPX) said the Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith wants the SSPX to be fully reconciled to help fight modernists in the Church.

Friday, February 3, 2017

Edit: the Order of Malta's condom distributing Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Boeselager, has given a public address wherein he avoids any explanations of the totals capitulation of the Order's sovereignty and praises Pope Bergoglio's autocratic takeover. If you listen to this public sinner's address, he offers no contrition for distributing condoms, and even expresses his own disapproval of the increasing border security in the face of Islamic invasion. Unlike his predecessors, he is surely a friend of Islam, and an enemy of Christ.He virtue signals thusly:

We are alarmed and concerned by the proliferation of discriminatory positions towards immigrants, not least, based on their national origin. History has already provided us with plenty of examples showing the dramatic and monstrous consequences of policies based on origin and race. Likewise, the Government takes a strong stance against the increasing disregard for the humanitarian laws encoded in the Geneva Conventions ratified by the family of nations.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

God replaced by modernist Pseudo-"Kunst". Dom of
St. Stephan in Vienna, after the Apostasy

Fast Veils

[Kreuz.net] For about 1000 years the view to the altar during Lend has been shrouded by the "Lenten Veil" (also "Hungertuch") to signify that sinful man is not worthy to see God.

Often these Lenten veils narrate the life of Christ, so also the Carinthian Lenten veils of Gurk, Haimburg, St. Stefan am Krappfeld or Maria Bichl, dating from the 15th to 17th centuries.

Religious Illiteracy

These Lenten veils were intended to bring the proportion of the population who could not read (the illiterate), more powerfully closer to the life of Christ in a kind of poor man's Bible.

Today, the fast veils would have the task to bring the faith closer to the religiously illiterate of our time.

Faithless Pseudoart

Instead, the Lenten veils have become a field of artsy agitation for those church officials who are obviously weak in faith.

In this way, the St. Andra Church in Graz modernist pastor, Fr. Glettler, blighted the high altar with a holey carpet, while in the University of Vienna church the image of God was replaced by an image of the (pagan) Karnikels (Hare) .

2016: Waste in the St. Stephen's Cathedral

The masonic affine and former Red Hawks-socialist Fr. Toni Faber, now Cathedral Priest of St. Stephen in Vienna, has a penchant for self-expression, beliefs, and further, pseudo art.

The perverse Hermann Nitsch counts, along with the Communist Alfred Hrdlicka as the favorite "artists" of Fr. Faber.

For 2016 Fr. Faber has something "special" devised: a fast veil that has nothing to do with beliefs.

It consists of some drop cloths sewn together by a Slovene "multimedia artist."

"My top installations express the idea through a bond structure and the phenomena of Networked-being, as part of our people, both in our souls and bodies as psycho-biological process, as spiritual phenomena," wrote Fr. Faber citing the pseudo artist on a plaque in the cathedral - what that has to do with beliefs, can not be seen without an apron and compass.

Thus Fr. Faber recognizes the garbage as "art", he has also appointed a (well-paid) curator (three-quarters bald, braided ponytail and goatee).

Neither "artist" nor curator have been noted by a special closeness to the Church - but maybe that's just the ideal selection criterion for the Church pandering to modernity.

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Edit: it will probably appear soon enough in English, but sometimes the practice is good. Besides, Magister's observation about the readings at the Synod are cutting, if not prophetic.

(Rome) Currently, the Synod Fathers are discussing the divorced and remarried, and homosexuality. Sandro Magister points out how the readings of Holy Mass gives an answer to the controversial questions posed by the Synod Fathers. This happened in relation to homosexuality the past few days.

The Word of Apostle Paul --- without Censure

By Sandro Magister

Since the Synod Fathers have begun with the discussion of the third part of Instrumentum laboris, that one with the controversial statements, the Masses for each day contain a section from the Letter to the Romans, the theological masterpiece by the Apostle Paul.

What a Coincidence: Holy Scripture Gives the Answer to Homosexuality

However, the coincidence between Synod and order of readings had nothing to do with the indissolubility of marriage, but with another hot topic: the homosexuality.

On Tuesday, the 13th of October, the first chapter of the Letter to the Romans included a reading if verses16-25.

Paulus says therein: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth of God in injustice: Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable."

And further: "Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of fourfooted beasts, and of creeping things.Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies among themselves.Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen."

The Reading Itself Ended Here But Not Paul's Letter

In the Mass of the 13th of October the reading ended at this point and continued the next day with the second chapter of the letter to the Romans.

Indeed, the first chapter of the letter of Paul to the Romans did not end at this point. The reading bashfully omitted this passage, of which the Synod Fathers themselves can't be ignorant.

Paul continued and clearly said what he meant with this reference by "impurity," „to dishonor their bodies among themselves."

It is there with the unsettling completion of the first chapter in the Letter to the Romans:

For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers, Detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,Foolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy. Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them.

Catechism of 1997: Homosexuality is a sin that "cries to heaven."

If Paul says that, then it is clear that the Synod Fathers, who are aiming to alter the doctrinal and pastoral paradigms of the Church in matters of homosexuality, will surely have some difficulties to bring their proposals into agreement with the "Word of the living God", as it shows at the end of a reading in Holy Mass.

It is even more increasingly clear that in substantial parts of the Church that the portrayal of practicing homosexuality as a sin is disappearing as a relic of the past. And although the Catechism of the Catholic Church, not that of the celebrated Pius X of 1905, but the "new" one of 1992 in the Editio typica of 1997, just as before, "the sin of homosexuality" is among the "sins crying to heaven," together with murder, oppression of the poor and withholding the payment of just wages.

Those who wish to endorse homosexuality can be contradicted with the argument that it would be praeter Scripturum, that it's not only outside of scripture, but would even be against Holy Scripture. This is what Waldensian pastor Paolo Ricca did in 2011 and countered his Protestant confreres who were endorsing homosexuality.

Even in the Catholic world there are no lack of Catholic theologians and bishops who are prepared to maintain, that Saint Paul is not to be taken literally, but in the historical "context" of his time, which had been heavily prejudiced, "patriarchal", and full of "ethno-religious condemnation," which today would be unacceptable.

The Franco-German "shadow synod," which took place last May in the Gregoriana, whose main actors sit in the real synod, themselves maintain exactly this modern "reading" of Holy Scripture in the light of predominant modern thought.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Edit: Sounds like she was included as an afterthought, if they think at all. They probably don't really want anyone Catholic present at the presentation of this thing, because it's not really Catholic anyway.

(Rome) Not three, but four people will present the eco encyclical of Pope Francis to the public on 18 June.

As Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi SJ turned attention to the last "crime" as a draft eco encyclical of Pope Francis became public. Sanctions were made on Tuesday to a Vaticanist of the weekly magazine L'Espresso , which published the draft on its website. Magister himself affirms to have had no effect on the publication, which was decided by the editor.

Vatican spokesman Lombardi also announced that one more person will participate in the announcement of the Eco-Encyclical next Thursday. To date, three presenters were called: Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Metropolitan Joannis Zizioulas as a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople; Hans Joachim "John" Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate (IPCC).

The Catholic Herald wrote that for the first time in Church history an encyclical will be presented by a Catholic, an Orthodox and an atheist.

Dean of the Best Business School in the USA - Head of the Largest Catholic Aid Organization of the United States

Two days before the presentation a woman was has been added: Carolyn Woo, president of Catholic Relief Services and former dean of the Mendoza College of Business of the University of Notre Dame in the United States. Thus, the confessional and ideological weights were slightly shifted in favor of the Catholic side.

Vatican spokesman Lombardi explained that Carolyn Woo will be present because of her expertise in business and commerce. "Thus a theologian, a naturalist and an economist will present the various aspects of the text," said the Jesuit.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) was a founded in 1943 by the bishops of the United States during World War II as a Catholic aid organization based in Baltimore in the State of Maryland. Woo took over the presidency of the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in the US in 2012, which has more than 5,000 full-time employees. In previous years, she led a business faculty which was considered the best among all those comparable academic institutions in the United States.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

(Madrid) On Christmas Day, the 25 December 2013 the Sanctuary of the Marian Shrine Virxe da Barca was burned down in the far west of Spain. With tears in their eyes believers are lamenting "winner!" for the restoration of their Marienkirche (Faro de Vigo) was carried out.

The Marian Shrine is located on the Costa da Morte, the Galician coast of death, which is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. During a storm a lightening bolt hit the church of the Nativity of Jesus Christ.

For many, the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage church is yet another step to Finis terrae to achieve and the Atlantic Ocean. The pilgrimage church dates back to the 11th century. Marian devotion there is of still an older date, which is why Muxia is considered one of the "oldest and most important pilgrimage sites in Galicia".

High altar before the fire

Where the Mother of God appeared to the Apostle James

According to popular piety, the Mother of God appeared to the Apostle James here. The apostle had retired here at the extreme end of the known world to pray. He had fallen into deep sadness because of the people who did not want to put away their paganism. It was then he had discovered a boat in the distance in the sea which came closer and closer. Finally he managed to recognize the Virgin Mary, who brought him comfort and straightened him to continue his missionary work. Hence the name "Virgin of the Boat."

It was the Benedictine monks of the former, nearby Abbey of San Julián de Moraime and the pilgrims who built the Mother of God, the present church. The miraculous image of the Virgin is attributed to the 15th century. By 1700 the sanctuary was in the Baroque style.

Popular piety shows other needs

The destruction

Now believers are complaining about the new "look" that has appeared in the church after the fire. They did so most recently, loudly at the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela, Maroño Victor. The repair cost around 740,000 euros. Mayor Felix Porto, himself a critic of the restoration, could hardly calm tempers.

The faithful do not like the new "sobriety". Popular piety shows other needs. The magnificent high altar, built in 1717 by Miguel de Romay in the style of the Spanish Baroque was completely destroyed by fire. Some side altars were partly saved. The miraculous image also remained intact, which is shown only on feast days in solemn procession, while there was a replica on the high altar.

The Blessed Mother was visited throughout the centuries by countless women who want children.

Church Crisis With Iconoclasm in Train?

The statue

Just a month before the fire rennovations had been completed. They had become necessary for structural reasons. In particularly stormy seas waves directly wash upon the sanctuary. Recently, this happened in 2005, a few days after the fire.The salt water had attacked the bearing masonry as it was then reported.

Opinions differ about "sobriety", not only since the Calvinist iconoclasm of the 16th century. Iconoclastic relapses took place in the East in the 8th / 9th Centuries, which are interpreted as a response to the ban on images in Islam. Popular piety also differs from people to people. What is too much for one already, may be too little for others. The Church respects these expressions of different people's souls.

A Calvinist / Baptist contempt of images has also won the upper hand in some diocese and monasteries of the German-speaking world. Required Restorations are a popular gate of entry to present the faithful with the surprising "sober" facts. The art and cultural critic, Francesco Colafemmina who examined the phenomenon seen in the modern emptying of Churches, sees a metaphor for inner emptiness and thus an expression of the current crisis of faith and Church.

"Our Lady does not deserve this"

The ancient glass windows remained

"Our Lady does not deserve this." The believers said this and much more to the Vicar General and the architects who had come with him to Muxia. Mayor Porto finally made himself the mouthpiece of the population: "What we want is a high altar, which is worthy for Our Mother of the Boat." Pastor Manuel Linero "suffers the most," under the new situation, the mayor said. He, too, was not included in the renovation project.

The Sanctuary of the Virgin Mother of God "belongs to the Church, but it also belongs to every house in Muxia and every single person here," said the mayor. Generation after generation of inhabitants of Muxia and thousands of pilgrims have supported the church through the centuries with their donations and foundations. This must be respected, says Felix Porto.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Edit: a Catholic teacher has been fired from her job for saying uncontroversial, Catholic things that are nevertheless a scandal to the Bishop.

We'd encourage all of you to muster as much indignation and respect as you can and denounce this disgrace. Thanks.

Here's the letter from the Bishop, attempting to justify his act:

March 20 at 5:46pm ·
Bishop Bootkoski's statement on status of teacher at Immaculata High School, Somerville

20 Mar 2015

My dear brothers and sisters,

We are a compassionate Catholic community committed to treating our students, faculty and parishioners with respect. We have never wavered from our traditional Catholic teachings.

To that end we need to correct some misstatements with regard to the teacher in question.

The teacher’s comments were disturbing and do not reflect the Church’s teachings of acceptance. However, she has never been terminated, as some media outlets have reported. She has been put on administrative leave. There has been no interruption in her pay and benefits.

Pope Francis reminds us that we are to accept all of our brethren. We must ensure that our educators steer away from harsh and judgmental statements that can alienate and divide us.

We regret that certain individuals and groups are using inaccurate media reports to push their own agendas. [The only agenda we see at work here is a modernist one on the part of Your Lordship.]

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Cardinal Kasper Baldisseri and the agenda of Pope Francis: Listen to the laity, but silence them,
if they do not say what you want?

(Rome) Preparations continue for the Synod of Bishops on the family in 2015. The Pontifical Family Council has invited the leaders of the world's most important Catholic layity to Rome to hear their views on the 46 questions of the new questionnaire from 22 to 24thJanuary, which will be the basis of theInstrumentum laboris of the Synod.But the result was not as Cardinal Baldisseri, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops had planned. The cardinal, who acted as an extended arm of Pope Francis at the Synod of Bishops in 2014, was angry and broke out with rage in his statements against the lay representatives.

Lay movements: Yes to Loving Acceptance, but No to Communion without the State of Grace

Everything went down very discreetly. The communicative Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, appointed by Pope Francis, made no public announcements. This seems to have to do with the fact that the outcome of the hearing did not meet the expectations of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops. The priest Santiago Martín, founder of the Franciscans of Mary conceived the opinions of lay associations in an essay titled: "Catholic Laity: Discount, No thanks!."

"Virtually all lay movements represented in Rome have spoken out in favor of retaining the traditional doctrine." The outcome of the hearing "would not clear and may be clearer. Practically the whole of those present in Rome, about eighty movements, including the most significant and most members who have spoken in favor of retaining the traditional doctrine. Everyone says that the process of marriage annulments should be accelerated, but without making a Catholic divorce of it, and that the divorcee is to be met with great love, so that they do not feel excluded from the Church, but without prejudice to the Eucharist becoming devalued and are not allowed access to Communion without being in a state of grace. The base has clearly said, 'Discount, no thank you!' "

Frankness of the Laity, Who do not Like Rome - Cardinal Baldisseri's Indignant Reaction

Cardinal Baldisseri

Laymen were posseed of that those frankness claimed, the Pope Francis in his welcome address had called for the opening of the Synod of Bishops on October 6, 2014. A frankness that a group of cardinals at the Synod revealed by defending Catholic doctrine against the papal supported Kasper-line. Even at the risk, thereby to fall into disgrace with Pope Francis, who actually made ​​an example by the Synod on the Word of leader of the defenders of the indissolubility of marriage.

Accordingly, Cardinal Baldisseri, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops reacted angrily to the opinions of the laity. He defended the "right" of Cardinal Kasper against criticism of the laity, to require the approval of adulterers to communion. Cardinal Baldisseri spoke not of adulterers, but of "divorced persons who live in relationships unrecognized by the Church."

Baldisseri: Jesus' Words "Can be Called into Question"

Baldisseri contradicted the lay representatives, and they should "not be surprised", because there are theologians who oppose the teaching of the Church. What was understood by those present was that the Cardinal wanted to say that the Church's teaching is not so clear on the point.

Finally Baldisseri claimed that the dogmas of the Church "evolved" and that "there is no point to hold a synod, if you then just repeat what was always said."

But indignation among those present broke Baldisseris final assertion: "Just because a certain understanding 2000 years ago was in a place that does not mean that it can not be called into question."

Layman Says Words of Jesus Christ are "Immutable Law" and "Can not be Called into Question"

The lay representatives could not wait to give their ​​reaction. Patrick Buckley, the international representative of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children commenting on the statements Cardinal Baldisseris, said:

"The Church's teaching on the indissolubility of marriage is based on the words of Jesus Christ. These words may have been spoken 2000 years ago, but remain an immutable law of God for the Catholics, nothing more and nothing less. "

Mary Madise, director of Voice of the Family said: "Cardinal Baldisseri has publicly corrected one delegate, who protested the attacks against the Catholic doctrine. Unmistakably, the same thing did not happen not so shortly afterwards, where another delegate denied the Church's teaching on contraception. One had the impression that there is only one sin today, the defense of what the Church has always taught. "

"Sophistry of Professional Dissidents Does Not Help Suffering Families"

About the overall climate regarding the hearing from the Roman position, Madise said: "It seemed as if one could discuss just about everything at this conference, including questions that have already been clarified by the Magisterium of the Church. Such a debate distracts from the task of finding real solutions to the problems encountered by the families really face. The serious evils such as abortion, euthanasia and the attacks on the rights of parents was barely touched on in the discussion. These are some of the key issues that were incidentally also ignores the final report of the Synod in 2014. The suffering of families is not helped by the subtleties of professional dissenters, whether these are church leaders or laity. "

Voice of the Family called for, considering the "shocking experience" a few days ago in Rome, all Catholics to unite in prayer so the Catholic doctrine affirms marriage and family in any document of the Pontifical Family Council in the wake of the conference and when the Synod of Bishops is formulated in the fall.

Monday, January 19, 2015

(Vatican) in early February convenes the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture . It will introduce some novelties. Above all, there will be more irritating voices around this event.

Pope Francis Against Misogyny and Machismo

It is considered difficult to make it out. It's even worse when you raise expectations. Yesterday, Sunday, Pope Francis spoke to thousands of young Filipino students at the Pontifical and Royal University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Manila. The Catholic Church leader said, as it suits him best, which is extemporaneously. In his speech, he took up the cudgels for women. In the audience there were at least as many girls as boys. However, only one girl was among the selected ones who were allowed to present a question to the Pope: "There are few women among you.Too few. Women have a lot to say in today's society. Sometimes we are misogynistic and give women no room."

The Universidad Santo Tomaso Manila was founded in 1611 and is the oldest university in Asia. Since 1927, enrollment has been open to women. Currently, there are more than 42,000 students studying at the university.

Feminist Theologians Accuse Pope of "Antiquated Modes of Thought"

Despite the criticism against "machismo" do not seem to be satisfied on this point all feminists and theologians with Pope Francis. On The Contrary. In a recent issue of the Journal of the Città dell'uomo (city of man) the progressive theologian Maria Cristina Bartolomei published a scathing criticism of Pope Francis, whom she accused of adherence to an "antiquated, and ossified in old and outdated categories,"

When hearing from theologians à la Bartolomei hear you understand the Apostle Paul, "when he orders that women should keep silence in the Church," wrote the Catholic Pro-Lifer Claudia Cirami in Papale Papale. Bartolomeis' "analysis" of Vatican documents hardly extends beyond the fundamental criticism that it was a question of "documents by men for men." Besides this Bartolomei is otherwise "super happy" with Pope Francis.

Progressive Cycle

The "city of men" is a cultural-political association founded by Giuseppe Lazzati. Lazzati (1909-1986) comes from the environment by Giuseppe Dossetti, the procedural "organizer" of the vote success of the "Rheinish Alliance" at the Second Vatican Council. Dossetti, the head of the left wing of the Christian Democrats, Lazzati became a Christian Democrat after the war, for whom he was a member of the Constituent Assembly (1946-1948) and then to 1953, a member of parliament. Lazzati stands with Dossetti on that section of political Catholicism, which dreamed of a common 'social' future with the political left, including the Communists, or at least was open to left alliances. They found support with certain reservations, in a part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy that Paul VI. represented on the papal throne.

In 1958 Lazzati got a chair of Christian Literature of Antiquity at the Catholic University in Milan. In 1961 Archbishop of Milan Montini made him the editor of the Catholic newspaper "L'Italia". After his election as Pope, Paul VI. offered Lazzati more posts. In 1968, he leaves the chair to his assistant Raniero Cantalamessa and Rector of the Catholic University. It was an office which he held until 1983. He died in 1986, and in 1991 with the help of the Archbishop of Milan, Carlo Maria Martini, the beatification process began. On July 5, 2014 Pope Francis recognized Giuseppe Lazzati recognized as a Servant of God.

"Return" to Regain 1789

Lady Theologians

From this environment came the sarcastic words now, while Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi sought, the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture with every effort to regain the alleged "return" of the Church in matters of women. By "return," the former Archbishop, Carlo Maria Cardinal Martini of Milan meant the 200 years since the French Revolution, which the Church had to catch up.

For the 4th-7th February, he is holding a general meeting of his Congregation on the them of "Women's Culture: equality and difference". It is to consult about a document that was "worked out by a group of women in the light of pastoral considerations of members and consultants." This group is about to become a kind of "Women's Council" as it says on the website of the Pontifical Council for Culture with great satisfaction. That would indeed be an "unprecedented novelty" in the Vatican. (See the report one of the new Consul of the Dicastery working on the document, the "erotic Buddhist" Pablo d'Ors - The "Erotic Buddhist" that Francis made ​​as the Consultant for Cultural Pontifical supports women priests? ). D'Ors announced that will speak at the General Assembly in February on the admissibility of "women's ordination" and the repeal of the priestly celibacy. For both had, the Spanish priest, "the time is right."

Teatro Argentina, "Sexy Video" and Feminist Anathema

That Cardinal Ravasi has a penchant for public visibility, is known not only within the Vatican walls. Thus, for the opening of the General Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture a novelty has been planned. It will not take place in the Vatican, but the most famous Roman theater, the Teatro Argentina. The reference to the homeland of Pope Francis is gladly seen as a fortuitous byproduct. The event is freely accessible. To apply, a private video was produced by the Vatican's Pontifical Council with the Italian theater and film actress Nancy Brilli, which was released before Christmas on the Internet.

But who would have hoped thus to satisfy everyone, was wrong. Even during the Christmas season, the feminist US theologian Phyllis Zagano opened fire from the columns of the National Catholic Reporter (NCR). The flagship of the progressive US Catholics printed a broadside against the Vatican, Cardinal Ravasi and Nancy Brilli. Zagano explained it was because of the "Sexy" way with the commercial broadcasters to advertise in a style. A style that "is obsolete in the most advanced countries and in majority of Muslim countries is totally unacceptable," said the feminist.

Instead of a "provocative" promotional video with a pretty actress in the Vatican, they should, according Zagano, publish a collection of stories of abused, raped, imprisoned and murdered women. To be perfectly equal, the feminist theologian listed the same seven such possible topics.

Karinal Ravasi in "Sackcloth and Ashes"

This was just the first blow, but the second one followed immediately. John L. Allen, for years Vaticanist of the National Catholic Reporter, with best wire there, even though since 2014 he has been under contract with the Boston Globe, he found a statement by Cardinal Ravasi statement for Zağano's attack.

The Cardinal "sank in sackcloth and ashes," said Vatican expert Sandro Magister. "Now I understand that we have probably made ​​a mistake with the actress," said Allen who was able to quote the dicastry head. And promptly, the English version of the promotional video disappeared from the website of the Pontifical Council for Culture . There, the Italian version of the video runs on the English side to the motto: which no one will understand in the United States.

On the Internet, however, it is still in circulation if no longer desired by the publisher. The video CALL # LIFEOFWOMEN .

Worthy Initiative

Purpose

This is a polemical Catholic Royalist blog. It will also attempt to provide a window onto various events, situations and personalities not generally or favorably presented to the purview of the general public in the English speaking world. It also hopes to be a bridge for those who wish to cross over, unite and fight for the truth.